California, US headquartered solar energy startup Tandem PV has raised $6 million for its Series A financing round with investors including an international solar manufacturer and a US utility company, to arrange funds for a pilot manufacturing fab in San Jose.
Focused on ultra high-efficiency tandem metal-halide perovskite solar technology, Tandem PV explains it uses silicon solar panels into high efficiency tandems by leveraging perovskite-coated front glass via a drop-in manufacturing replacement.
The team is confident this technology will offer 50% higher efficiency than the average solar panel and also bring down solar system costs by 30% or even more. It can encourage net zero energy buildings and enable 'electrification of everything' at the residential and micro-grid scale.
"We have tremendous market pull from residential solar installers, end users, equipment distributors and utilities – the industry is ready for more sustainable, efficient and cost-effective solar panels," said Co-Founder and CEO of Tandem PV, Colin Bailie who developed the technology while at Stanford University.
The $6 million financing, round out of $12 million it targets under Series A, was led by an early-stage venture capital firm Bioeconomy Capital through its new Planetary Technologies fund.
Tandem PV developed as part of the US Department of Energy's exclusive Cyclotron Road accelerator in 2016. The company's Co-Founder and Managing Director, Chris Eberspacher said Tandem PV is on a fast track to develop, demonstrate and commercialize perovskite and silicon tandem solar panels for the US and homes globally.